I don't think it's an issue of whether we will actually become a 1984, but how we are already adopting many of the characteristics of that society in our own. The issue of information/knowledge/truth is one obvious similarity. Winston actually rewrites the past because it was "possible." The whole idea was that that past was manipulated so that it could be used as a propaganda tool in the future. The problem today is that we get much of our information from the internet, and we often do not know where it comes from or how accurate it is. So the past begins to become malleable. A trivial example appeared in the paper last week. After hundreds of years as our greatest president, Washington was replaced by Lincoln. Why did this happen? Do the people who were polled really know that much about either/both president? I doubt it. I think...
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it's more likely the result of Obama's endless praising of Lincoln having an indirect effect on the people.
Another example is Obama's endless use of the word crisis, creating fear in the population so that we are more ready to accept his solutions. But how many of us really KNOW that there is a crisis or that the administration's proposed solutions are the best/appropriate? Do we believe it because it is pounded into us almost daily by the media? Is it this easy to get us to believe things? If so, how far are we from Winston's 1984?
Is the society in 1984 possible?
Good question for the discussion board! :)
On one hand I think that this society is possible and that perhaps Orwell had it right on the money when he created the book without fully realizing the possibilities. The government has a lot more power over its people than it did in the 1940s and the US government continues to progress in that direction. With the advancements made in technology it's possible to have a Big Brother type society. There is hardly a place on the planet left that a person can go and not be found. Computers, GPS, the Internet, this age of information makes it easy to be watched. If people continue to value ignorance over intelligence and give the government too much power then I think 1984 is a probability in our future. People today would rather someone else think and do for them and with everything being "PC" all the time our speech is being diminished as well, just like the creation of Newspeak.
On the flip side of the coin because we have so much technology it is difficult to know all, all of the time. If people start to take more responsibility for what they do, we might be able to avoid it.